Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Facing A Fear


I am fairly certain that I am suffering from Blank Page Syndrome. I like, no scratch that, LOVE to buy sketchbooks. I think that having a place to keep track of your ideas is brilliant and Z is always telling me that I need to get my design ideas down on paper and I agree. So I go out and pick up a book that I think will be perfect. A big one so I can fill it with all those tear sheets I take from magazines, a small one cause if I could keep it in my bag that would be better, and well you get the idea. And then I FREEZE.

I can't get past that first page. I want it to be perfect and pretty and something that I can flip past and feel a bit inspired. So I stare at it for a few weeks - unsure of what I should fill the page with and then I put it away with the other empty sketchbooks that sit in a drawer - my secret shame. I do have quite a collection don't I?!?

Well I need to get over this quick because for one of my classes this semester we need to keep a graphic journal - 100 pages filled by the end of the semester with whatever we want. So I have spent the past few weeks watching everyone in class as they slowly fill up their books with perfect doodles, rough drawings that look amazing to this non-drawer, and handwritten notes about what they like about a logo. It all looks intimidating to me and I feel a small sense of dread mixed with panic as I look down in my bag and there sits my empty book waiting - begging for attention. 

Well this week I am going to put something down and I am going to try and be OK with the idea that it won't be perfect. Wish me luck friends.

Do any of you all have strange hurdles like this - please let me know that I am not the only one!!!


5 comments:

  1. First, I love your photo with the addition of books. I'm not a "doodler" and I found it hard in art classes to sketch and fill books. When I make jewelry I work straight away with the metal and don't sketch on paper. I sketch in my head and work out the logistics of how to put something together. I'm more of a 3-d person, tactile. So that of course was no help to you. How do you see things, as photos, illustrations? Maybe that will help you fill a sketch book.

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  2. I tend to see things as a pattern, or at least I look for some type of pattern in a layout I like - that is a good place to start!! I am glad to know I am not the only person who struggles with the concept of a sketchbook - fairly certain my professor thinks I am nutso.

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  3. Don't get me started! I have the same LOVE for journals, have stacks of them (all kinds, colors and sizes...so pretty) and most are blank! I still buy them and I keep saying I am going to start journaling no matter what, art journaling would be even better. Now, it seems to me that you are in a perfect situation to overcome this issue. YOU HAVE TO COMPLETE ONE AS YOUR PROJECT!!! Damn the torpedos Angela and I hope to hell you share it with us. It may help the rest of us start filling pages. XOXO

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  4. Oh, I almost forgot, cute accompanying moving photo thingy. How do you do that????

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  5. Yes. Yes, I buy too many sketchbooks and notebooks. And then I get them as gifts. And then they sit, blank. Or the first few pages filled out, but then I'm unhappy with how they look, or I worry about chronology. Or something. And so there they sit. And in the meantime, I have schnipsels of paper EVERYWHERE.

    Have you seen India Hicks' scrap/sketchbooks on Design*Sponge? She uses Elmer's Glue (*shudder) but there are some good things there, and I like the concept. Maybe I'll actually start using some of the notebooks I have....

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